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England Test skipper Ben Stokes was out first ball on his Hundred return as Northern Superchargers were thumped by 10 wickets by Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston.
Stokes, making his first appearance in this year’s competition, was bowled by a beauty from Tim Southee at the start of a sorry innings that saw Andrew Flintoff’s Superchargers skittled for 83.
Stokes’ England team-mates Ben Duckett and Moeen Ali, with 43 and 37 respectively, made light work of the chase, easing their side to the fastest victory in the history of the men’s competition with 61 balls to spare.
After the visitors won the toss, Stokes was made to wait 20 balls at the non-striker’s end before becoming one of three wickets for Southee.
Adam Milne also struck three times and Chris Wood claimed two scalps as the likes of Harry Brook and Nicholas Pooran failed to fire.
Duckett continued from where he left off for Phoenix on Saturday, racing to 43 from 20 balls, alongside Moeen who was similarly speedy for his 37 from 21.
Southee said: “We assessed conditions reasonably quickly and the seamers hit a good length that proved difficult to play. It was a pretty clinical performance all round.
“This is a great team to be a part of and I’m enjoying my time here. That goes a long way, and it is nice to chalk up another win.
“A win like that can only do wonders for the confidence going into our next games but we know we are heading to a different ground and different opposition, so we have to start again.
“There are no easy teams in this tournament so we should have another good couple of matches coming up.”
